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Three-dimensional chess
Three-dimensional chess is a variant of the ancient Earth game chess. It was an accustomed pastime of Kirk and Spock aboard the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] in the 23rd century and its popularity extends into the 24th century. Setup The gameboard consists of seven levels, three fixed levels four squares long by four squares wide and four movable levels which are two squares by two squares. The three stationary levels are set up in a stair-like pattern with each higher level overlapping the one beneath it by two rows. The four movable levels start out at the corners of the top stationary level, overlapping the corner square of both, and the bottom stationary level, two each. The pieces used in three-dimensional chess are identical to those used in the traditional game: two Kings, two Queens, four Bishops, four Knights, four Rooks, and sixteen Pawns, each divided equally between the sides - Black and White. The initial positions of the pieces appear identical to those of standard chess when viewed from above, with one rook, one knight and a pair of pawns on each of the movable levels, and the bishops, the Queen and King, and the remaining four pawns occupying half of the bottom or top stationary level - White at the bottom, Black at the top, with no pieces on the middle level. Play Movement of pieces is similar to that of traditional chess. The main difference is that in the course of a move, pieces may move up or down any number of levels depending on the piece. Again, it should look like a legal move in traditional chess when seen from above. Moves *Aldabran exchange *Christoff gambit History Commander Spock was an exceptional chess player, his game was consistently logical. However, he often had a difficult time exceeding the unexpected moves made by his frequent opponents, Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy. Spock introduced chess to young passenger Charles Evans, who disliked the involved nature of the game, after losing he destroyed Spock's chess pieces. Spock also enjoyed playing chess against a rival logical mind, that of the Enterprise computer. In 2266 he detected programming errors in the computer's databanks because of faulty chess moves made by the computer, he later introduced the tampering and unreliability of the computer's records as defense evidence in the court-martial of Captain Kirk. Kirk and his senior officers used a chess-based code phrase as transporter clearance in 2268, when Garth of Izar planned to escape from the Elba II insane asylum. Chief engineer Scott declined to beam Garth, disguised as Kirk, to the Enterprise, because Garth did not know the code response "queen to king's level 1" when Scott queried with the code phrase "queen to queen's level 3." Appendices Appearances *TOS: **"Where No Man Has Gone Before" **"Charlie X" **"Court Martial" **"Whom Gods Destroy" *TNG: **"Pen Pals" **"Ménage à Troi" **"The Nth Degree" **"Conundrum" *DS9: **"Statistical Probabilities" External links *Parmen - Free Tridimensional Chess Software *Tridimensional Chess Rules *3D Chess *4 x 4 x 8 Tri-dimensional Chess *Vulcan Standard Tri-D Chess *Tournament rules for Three-dimensional Chess *Kobayashi Maru Variant of Star Trek 3-D Chess Category:Recreation de:Dreidimensionales Schach fr:Echecs 3D